THEATRE OF THE ABSURD                               

The Theatre of the Absurd was born in the forties and fifthies, in Paris.

The philosophers thought the human being is not able to get a rational knowledge

about the world, for this reason they thing we see the world like something absurd. This

 idea tries to find answers to the doubts people have. Writers use a lot of metaphors in

 order to express those feelings, however, the metaphors do not express the reality.

 Humans could not know the reality and for this reason they were not interested to know

 it. As consequence of it, The Theatre of the Absurd was born.

The founding members of this theatrical tendency were: Samuel Beckett, Eugene

 Lonesco, Fernando Arrabal, Harold Pinter etc.

We can see the theatre of the absurd in plays like “Waiting for Godot”, it was written by

Samuel Beckett, or “The Dumb Waiter”, that was written by Harold Pinter.

“Waiting For Godot”:

Estragon and Vladimir are in an open ground, near a tree. They are waiting for Godot.

However, Estragon and Vladimir do not know Godot, they do not know if Godot exists

or not if Godot is a person or an animal. Vladimir and Estragon do not know why they

have to meet Godot. When the time passes, Estragon and Vladimir get bored because

they speak about absurd things. Then, Pozzo and Lucky appear, Lucky speaks for a

short time but when he speaks only talks nonsense. Finally, a boy appears to say to

Estragon and Vladimir, that Godot will come the following day, but it is not true.

“The Dumb Waiter”:

This play is very similar to the play of “Waiting for Godot”, however, the main

characters do not answer about some existence of the superior person like Vladimir and

Estragon.

Pinter interprets his point of view about life, he considers life is waiting for

something that we do not know; Beckett had got the same thought about it.

Pinter finds out that life can betray you, and for this reason, you must be careful.

The founding members use absurd conversations and those conversations do not

contribute anything.

The Theatre of the Absurd focus it is interest in the communication among the

characters or the absence of communication.